World View & Market Commentary. Forest first; Trees second. Focused on Real & Knowable facts that filter through the "experts" fluff and media hyperbole. Where we've been, what the future may hold and developing a better way forward.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

A little anecdotal story that caught my eye. The Puyallup Fair is the largest fair in Washington State. Over the past decade the problem this fair has had is that they cannot hire enough workers! Of course it’s just a temporary minimum wage job, but they went from can’t get enough workers to this:

Officials at the Puyallup Fair say 4,000 people came out on Wednesday to sign up for temporary jobs at the event, and many were turned away and asked to come back again. That number of job seekers was 3,500 more than officials had ever experienced on the first day of hiring of the fair.

On Thursday, the first 600 people in line will be given numbers and others will be asked to come back on Friday and Monday.

“Due to the inability to process that many applicants in one day, many of those people who showed up were asked to return tomorrow,” Fair officials said in a statement.

They said they cut off the line at a place where WorkSource Employment Office staffers could process those applicants.

Fair officials said they’re looking to fill 3,000 jobs for the fair set for Sept. 11-27, with wages starting at the state’s minimum wage of $8.55 an hour. Some jobs pay more than that, officials said, depending on duties and skills required.

So, on the first day they received EIGHT TIMES AS MANY APPLICANTS AS NORMAL!